Beyond the Camaraderie
by SidekickKep
Summary: Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye have always been closer than they've let on. As they relive and retell old memories, they create new ones. My interpretation of the Royai 100 Themes. Spoilers for the manga.
1. Military Personnel

**A/N: Just another addition made to the truckload of Royai 100 Themes out there… because I'm just that unoriginal and I want in on this action. It's been a while since I wrote anything, so I might be a little rough around the edges. In addition, this will be one of those fics that attempt to create a continuing story with each theme. I hope I do well. **

**Also Royai Day is this Friday. I intend to post at least a chapter a day for this, so hear you go. **

**Manga spoilers will be present I suppose. For now, it's just spoilers for chapter 58/60.**

**Beyond The Camaraderie **

**Chapter 1**

**Military Personnel**

As he briefly glanced up from the report he was filling out, a small smile tugged at his lips when his eyes made contact with the amber ones of a specific lieutenant's. She hesitantly returned the smile. Recalling their past together, the man realized how different things were between them. Yes, things were very different now.

He put his pen down. Satisfied with the report he finished, he lifted the two pages from his desk, and leaned back into his chair, staring at the report in his hands. The ink scribbles on the sheets were less than interesting to stare at and his onyx eyes began to survey the room (which was vacant other than himself and his lieutenant; the rest of the team had left moments ago). His eyes continued to wander until they landed on the woman he glanced at not too long ago.

Suddenly she stood, startling the man whose eyes lingered on her. She turned her head to look at him.

"I'm going to get some tea, Colonel," she said. "Would you like me to get you something while I'm gone?"

The colonel smiled and said, "No, thank you, Lieutenant. I'm fine."

In response, the woman nodded at him and started walking to the door until the colonel noisily stood up and said, "Actually, Lieutenant, I think I'll go with you." For a moment, he stretched his arms and walked over to her and they proceeded toward the officers' lounge.

"Have you finished your reports, sir?" she asked him.

"Finished two in the last hour," he proudly stated. "One more report to go and we'll be done for the day." They continued walking; their paces, slow and steady, clacking against the tiled floor.

The colonel sighed when he realized he was no longer walking abreast of his lieutenant, but a pace or two in front of her. He furrowed his brow, shoved his hands into his pockets, and muttered something his lieutenant couldn't here. Eventually, they reached the lounge. With their cups of tea in hand, they both sat down at a table, sipping occasionally.

"It's so different between us now… Riza," the colonel said. She looked up at him, somewhat alarmed by his demeanor and absolutely puzzled by his statement. There was a momentary silence between them. "Do you…" he paused, and then said, "Do you ever miss the old days?" A look of soft hope was plastered on his face.

The lieutenant sighed. "We're in the military, sir. We have an obligation to act professional in any given environment." Her eyes locked onto his. "And given your goals and aspirations, it would be best if we didn't let on about our childhood together."

Her lips shifted to a smile barely noticeable. The colonel smiled sadly.

"Yes." he said. "I suppose you're right."


	2. Gunshot

**Chapter 2**

**Gunshot**

They returned to the office. She had finished her work long before their little break in the lounge and was now currently engaged in a paperback novel. Meanwhile the colonel was busy trying to scrounge up a conclusion to his final report on a city inspection he recently went on. Behind him, the windows revealed massive dark gray clouds that were covering up the night's starry sky. Suddenly, the room was momentarily flooded with a white, surreal light and not long after, a deafening roar bellowed from the skies.

xXx

Although their reunion was miserable at best, at least they were now aware of what the other had been up to since their last meeting.

The sharp, shrill sound erupted from her weapon and to him, it came from nowhere. Barely half a second later, the man who had come to attack him and his friend had collapsed in a ragged heap, dead, blood pooling from his head.

Noticing the baffled look of the legendary Flame Alchemist, his comrade told him there was a certain "Hawk's eye" who was looking out for them.

At the sound of those two words, his thoughts immediately flashed toward his childhood and his apprenticeship. And he thought of her. And yet he had hoped it wasn't her when Maes Hughes suggested they find the sniper and properly thank her for saving their lives.

But it was her.

She held the weapon that produced that horrible sound. It was his first time hearing the shot from her, but it couldn't have been her first time firing that rifle. He began to imagine each round that flew from the barrel of her gun and the sound that accompanied it. It echoed over and over and over again in his head. The slight sound of the rifle being cocked followed by the small click of the trigger being pulled, and then the result: a huge explosion erupting from the weapon. Over and over and–

xXx

The sky growl once again. Louder now.

"Colonel, are you ready to go?"

Roy awoke from his trance. He had stood, distantly staring out the window with his arms folded over his chest.

"Oh, yes," he said. Then he groaned, fully realizing the scene before him. The lightning flashes and the ominous grumbles of thunder continued to taunt the colonel as he stared out the window. He scowled. The thunder roared once again.

"We better get going, sir, if you don't want to get caught in the rain," Riza advised.

**A/N: Not exactly pleased with how this one turned out. :shrugs shoulders: **


	3. Battlefield

**A/N: Lost my flash drive, which is the (crappy) excuse I have for not updating this thing for the past couple of days like I promised. Anyways, HAPPY ROYAI DAY GUYS! (assuming the day hasn't passed yet…)**

**Theme 3**

**Battlefield**

The minute they were seated inside his car, a light drizzle began to fall from the darkened clouds above them and gently fell to the colonel's car– it was his turn to drive in terms of carpooling– and for now, they were safe.

"Well, that's just splendid," a particularly displeased Colonel Roy Mustang muttered after starting his car. He stared at his fuel gauge in disbelief, positive he had refilled his tank the other day.

"What's wrong, Colonel?" his lieutenant asked him.

" Uhh," Roy rolled his eyes to the left, thinking up an excuse. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong. Just the rain. You know how I am with rain."

As they drove through the city streets, neither of them could actually complain about the rain. The summer season just recently arrived and having the cool rain falling around them was a great welcome to freshen the Central City area. Moreover, the soothing sound brought forth a vivid memory to both the colonel and the lieutenant.

"Actually," Roy said, breaking the short silence between them, "I kind of enjoy this type of rain."

"Is that so, Colonel?" was the reply Hawkeye gave him.

"Yes, Lieutenant. It is." Roy turned down a street, his eye still on the fuel gauge. He had heard somewhere that driving slow, when compared to driving fast, can help prolong the amount of gas was in your tank.

There was silence in the vehicle with the exception of the _pitter-patters_ of rain falling along the colonel's car. In a word, the moment was simply a peaceful one. One that had to be savored. As Roy Mustang drove his vehicle past the park where his closest friend Maes Hughes was murdered in a phone booth, he was reminded of how easily a trouble-free day could become a difficult situation. He heaved a sigh.

With the rain continuing to fall, slightly harder now than the previous minutes before, and the streets continuing to become even grayer in color, Riza Hawkeye struck a chord with the moment she almost lost Roy Mustang in East City to a notorious serial killer. Disregarding the terrorist attacks, East City was usually a relatively dreary city. Yes, it had its hustles and bustles as one of Amestris' key cities, but rarely anything of actual significance occurred in those eastern boondocks.

Roy's car sped past a small group of children who were undoubtedly rushing to get home before the drizzle became a downpour. An old couple was covering their produce in front of their supermarket, closing shop. A gentleman gave his umbrella to a young woman who had just exited from a building and was using her briefcase to barely shield her.

It was a typical city with inhabitants similar to others, and yet below them, they knew lurked those who were planning something devious– charting out some unknown wretched sin.

And for those people they drove by, they battled for. And for the streets they drove on was their battlefield.

"The one time it rained in Ishval, it rained like this," Roy said, breaking the silence between them. "Remember?"

"I do."

"And you caught a cold that night, didn't you?" Roy asked while turning onto her block.

Riza smiled. "You surprise me, Colonel. I wouldn't think you'd remember such a trivial event." Truth be told, Riza barely remembered the night herself. Roy grinned while tightly parallel parking his car between two others.

"You'd be even more surprised at how much I remember about you from when we were kids, Riza," he said.

She gave a smug smirk; it wasn't often Roy Mustang brought up their past together, but twice in one day was just ridiculous. "Frankly, _Roy_, that scares me," she said. Shaking her head, she grabbed her belongings and made a move to exit the car.

"Riza, wait!" Roy said, before she opened the door. "Do you remember the rainbow that came out the next day?" Roy asked.

"Of course." Her eyes softened. "It was one of the most beautiful rainbows I've seen." Especially given their situations, she failed to add. War made even the simplest of things shine gorgeously.

"With something as majestic as that, one would have never thought we were where we were." He turned to look at her, his dark eyes staring longingly into her amber ones and a gentle smile at his lips.

Riza felt her lips return the smile. It was often the best Roy could get from her. "Thank you for the ride, sir."

"It's carpooling. You don't have to thank me."

"Good_night_, Colonel," she turned around once as she entered the building and grinned.

Roy leaned back in his seat and sighed. He turned his key on in the ignition and began to drive off, a grin on his face.


	4. Grave

**A/N: Well, I believe there's some cheap symbolism here. Seriously. Symbolism, with a side of Roy going psycho. And just a note: no idea if cars from that time had low fuel indicators, so for convenience, I thought I'd toss one in there. **

**Chapter 4**

**Grave**

The rain was pouring now. The low fuel light on Roy's dashboard was lit. He bit his lip, his grin from the conversation he and Riza had minutes before gone. Making it to his apartment was impossible now. His eyes scoured the streets, hoping a phone booth was nearby so he could make a call or something, but with what little visibility he saw, there was nothing. There was only one option and that was to turn around, before it was too late, and hope by some _miracle_ that she would offer him some shelter– at least until the storm passed and he could walk home and get someone to tow his car. Roy made his U-turn and just then he felt his car pop, saw his lights dim, and his windshield wipers cease movement.

"Ugh," Roy whined. With the last amount of energy he could get his vehicle to muster, he pulled off to the side of road, grabbed his black coat, and stared at his windshield where he could just barely make out anything in front of him other than the blur of street lights. From inside, the raindrops rebounding against his car sounded like children hurling jars of marbles against tiled flooring. Mustang heaved one final sigh before kicking his car door open and running in the direction of Riza's apartment building. Not a minute of his desperate dash had passed and still his hair was already matted to his forehead and the rain was soaking through his uniform.

He was able to see Riza's apartment building now, but to actually get there, he had to continue running through the maze of city blocks, and though it took know more than a couple of minutes to get where he was now to the apartment complex by car, it surely would take a long time by foot and even longer with the downpour weighing him down.

Then there was a graveyard. In spite of its ominous appearance at the moment, Roy saw the silver lining– the path through the graveyard was a straight shot to the building. The mist surrounding the area added to the already negative preconceived notions upon the burial ground. He continued to stare in its direction, realizing that the quickest route to be free from this rainstorm was often the most difficult. _Run through the graveyard and you're free_, he told himself.

He jumped the iron gate and hit the ground, running – running through the labyrinth of graves, toward his light at the end of his tunnel. He sloshed mud onto his uniform, weighing the colonel down some more. A blinding sneer appeared in the sky, followed by the roaring laughter. Laughter . It was laughing at him! This rain, this mass of water, was _laughing at_ _him_ and his foolish, futile struggle.

Then those graves, as if there wasn't enough of a handicap against him. They chased after him, the dead, clawing at him with their rotting limbs. Roy, on the verge of panicking at the sudden nightmare, tried to lose them in the maze, but they clung to him like his own shadow. All of them. They moaned nonsense at him and surely he thought he was going insane as these silhouettes chased after him.

But it wasn't until Roy glanced over his shoulder when he realized who these shadows were. They weren't shadows. They were familiar faces, people, offering shouts of encouragement and pushing him forward. His deceased parents, Master Hawkeye, the countless casualties of the IshvalanWar, and Hughes– Maes Hughes, his dearest friend and loyal supporter. His recent death shattered the alchemist, still shattered him in fact. Maes Hughes wanted Roy Mustang to succeed at this and he needed this personally. They all needed this.

By now, Mustang had stopped running and stood, facing the smiling crowd. Hughes, at the front of the group, extended his hand toward the young colonel. Mustang looked from the darkness looming over him to Hughes' pale, glowing hand, to the grinning man himself. Mustang felt himself nod, then reached out to grab Hughes' outstretched one. They shook, grips tight. Hughes's shimmering green eyes latched onto Mustang's darkened ones. The phrase '_You will be fine_,' passed through Mustang's head and his brows knit together in confusion.

For a split second Mustang saw white and then darkness. The rain continued to pour, striking him like the victim of a rally of gunshots. He heard silence with the exception of the continuous growls of the rain hitting the pavement. He turned his head, still stunned by, what he considered, the hallucination. He shook his head and turned around, suddenly facing a brick wall. He raised his hand and felt the edge of the wall and hurled himself over.

He was across the street from the front of the apartment complex. He weakly jogged to the building where there was a slight roof that jutted out over the doorway that kept Roy from becoming even more soaked as he leaned over to catch his breath. He swallowed, the cold air in his throat itching. He swallowed and entered the building. The passersby on the main floor presented him with odd looks at his disheveled appearance to which he ignored as he walked up the staircase.

"Okay," he thought aloud to himself. "If I remember correctly she is on the fifth floor." Roy half-jogged up the staircases till he arrived at the fifth floor. The door to the floors, he noticed while running up the stairs, required a buzz-in for the guests from the tenant. Roy pressed the button that read 5A.

After a while a woman's voice answered from the other end. "Hello?" She sounded cautious, a little scared even, but that was masked by her careful, yet confident tone.

"Lieutenant, it's me." Roy realized how raspy his voice sounded as he heaved in cold air from his sprints.

"Colonel?" She was now clearly surprised, but she was still alert, Roy knew. She really needed to relax, he thought. _But then again, I'd probably feel the same way if she showed up at my doorstep in the middle of the pouring night_.

Roy breathed through his teeth. "Everything's fine, Lieutenant," he said, reading her mind. "Can you buzz me in? I'll give you the details then." Not a second later, a buzz rang out and Roy was free to enter the floor. 5A was the first door to his right. He knocked on it and immediately heard the barks of a familiar canine.

**A/N: Well, **_**I**_** thought Roy was going psycho as I wrote this. You might not think so, but I did. I also blame **_**Tale of Two Cities **_**for how this turned out. The coffin chasing Jerry's kid inspired me. And okay, fine, no "explicit" Royai. But you have to squint! Squint for that symbolism! **


End file.
